Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Compton Pre-1978

Compton horror stories would have been nothing new to anyone living in the Eastern Townships. As far back as 1969 - when King’s Hall was still operating as a private girls school - there were tales of a sexual predator living in the Compton village. On at least two occasions students were attacked by this predator; but when the girls tried to report the sexual assaults, the incidents were hushed-up by school officials. In 1975, a Champlain student living at King’s Hall was given a horse tranquilizer and nearly died of exposure sitting in a snow bank. This lurid history would have been well known by the Champlain administrators, and undoubtedly contributed to their sense of uneasiness with having to use the King’s Hall facility for “one more year”. Nevertheless, whenever Champlain wanted to put a positive spin on the situation, they would point to the virtue of student self sufficiency at Compton. “King’s Hall is completely run by the students…” boasted former Residence Director Gordon Glass. Under the guise of “self-management” students were responsible for first aid, bus scheduling, room checks, and even the preparation of the facility’s meals. Glass was probably too preoccupied to be bothered with such mundane matters as supervision. One former student said Glass had so many marijuana plants in his apartment that the place looked like the Amazon jungle.

Beullac uncovered more problems with substance abuse. Champlain offered a course in transcendental meditation. The class was widely alleged to be merely an excuse for the teacher and students to do drugs. The class would get together, smoke pot, trip out, and then talk about the experience as it related to the subject of meditation. Some of the classes got down right bizarre. One teacher, Graham Moodie, offered a course called Death and Dying. Students –sixteen and seventeen year old students – were offered the enriching experience of going to the morgue to look at dead bodies. Moodie is still on the faculty at Champlain.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The former ombudsman for federal prison inmates often skipped work and collected $325,000 in improper or questionable salary, vacation pay and expenses during a six-year period of his 26 years in office, Auditor General Sheila Fraser alleges.

Sheila Fraser - "...and I'm all out of bubblegum"

The latest report by Fraser, whose previous work blew open the federal sponsorship scandal, examined a wide range of government programs, practices and spending. It found serious problems with controls of public servants' charge cards and safety regulations at Health Canada.

Ron Stewart, a former CFL football star who retired from the Correctional Service of Canada in 2004, repeatedly failed to attend staff meetings, was frequently unavailable to aides and otherwise shirked his duties, Fraser concluded in her report released Tuesday.

"Obviously, he [Stewart] was not at his office a lot and received wages for work he didn't do," Fraser told reporters after the report's release.

'Obviously, he [Stewart] was not at his office a lot and received wages for work he didn't do.'- Auditor General Sheila FraserShe also found that Stewart, who once played for the now-defunct Ottawa Rough Riders, charged the government for hospitality and travel apparently unrelated to his work, including five trips to cities hosting Grey Cup games, and was awarded hefty bonuses disguised as overtime pay.

The report alleges that over six years between 1998 and 2004, Stewart missed work on 319 days, but billed for them. He also was reimbursed $8,000 for two computers the auditor general said he didn't know how to use, but were used by family members at his home.

"The transactions are very disturbing; his behaviour is disturbing, but what I think is even more disturbing is that it did go on for so long and that no one ever reported suspicions of wrongdoing," Fraser said.

The government said it respected Fraser's findings and would seek to recuperate any and all misappropriated funds, but added the alleged violations occurred under the watch of the previous Liberal government.

"We're taking these allegations very seriously," Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Tuesday following the release of the report.

Treasury Board President John Baird said the bulk of the alleged wrongdoings in Fraser's report were "the legacy of slack oversight and mismanagement" of the Liberals.

Fraser said she has referred Stewart's file to the RCMP to investigate whether the alleged violations warranted criminal charges and recommended a further probe into his entire 26 years in office. None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Fraser's audit of the federal sponsorship program in 2003 led to scandalous revelations of fraud and abuse at a lengthy public inquiry, which proved highly damaging to the Liberals and became a central issue in the last federal election.

Charge cards, safety regulations lax

The latest report also concluded that spending controls on public servants' credit or charge cards were lax at the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency, although the auditor general only found a few instances of direct abuse of charge card spending.

Fraser found that only about half the employees of the RCMP, CBSA and Correctional Service Canada believe their agencies would take any action if they were to blow the whistle on ethical problems within their departments to their superiors.

"There has to be a culture of values and ethics that promotes the reporting of wrongdoing … and that public servants have confidence that action will be taken when warranted," Fraser said.

The report also raised questions about dangerous gaps in Health Canada's safety regulations for products including drugs, pacemakers, cribs and other areas requiring the agency's approval.

Monday, November 27, 2006

This mysterious poem was published in 'The Campus' on ....november 3, 1978.

GRACE

Understandingor questioning,looking up into ugliness,looking straight acrossat yourself.I speak, hopingsomeone will answer.I rememberthat things happenedand neverbecauseof a reason.Why we continueis beyond me,appearing at breakfast,appearing at dinner,the light ascending,At evening someone will take a stickand destroy all life;someone will take a scarfto strangle all sound.Violence boils in the garden;we pray for darknessgoing down on our own passivity,calling for waeknessof the old days,calling for strength.

On November 27th, Mr. Allore contacts The Metropol Bureau of Investigation based in Montreal and specifically requests the services of Detective Robert Beullac. Beullac will be paid $18 an hour. He will be reimbursed $0.35 per mile. He will be hired to locate Theresa Allore, missing since November 3rd, 1978.

Mr. Allore reads about Metropol Investigation Bureau in the Fall edition of the McGill alumni magazine. The firm is run by two McGill graduates. In the article there is a picture of its two co-founders, Joel Hartt and Robert Beullac. Hartt looks like an egghead; it is Beullac that cuts an impression. Beullac wears pin stripped shirts. Beullac sports loud, flashy ties. Beullac holsters a bullet-studded gun belt. He stands 6-feet 5-inches and carries a big gun. Says Beullac,“Metropol hires few former policemen. Policemen have been taught to obey orders and follow procedures, which is fine in a paramilitary organization like a police force. But in our field, agents are pretty well let loose on a case. We give them support, but they need to be resourceful and confident, and be able to organize their work and follow through on leads. This is something most policemen have not been taught to do.”

Joel Hartt and Robert Beullac - 1978

On November 27th, 1978 Robert Beullac begins work on the disappearance of Theresa Allore. Bob Beullac doesn’t follow procedures. He shows up on the Champlain campus unannounced. He interviews students. He browbeats and bullies the administration. He shows up in the middle of classes, and intimidates the teachers and faculty. He calls up Jeanne Eddisford at all hours of the day and night. Beullac disrupts Matson’s chain of command. Beullac is a cowboy. Beullac answers to no one.

Sharon Buzzee can’t understand why the investigation hasn’t shifted to King’s Hall. She has told Jeanne Eddisford about the sighting on the staircase, but no one has checked out the Compton residence. Buzzee confides the matter to Josie Stepenhorst. Stepenhorst encourages her to talk with this new guy, the private detective. Maybe he will take an interest in Buzzee’s story. Buzzee approaches Beullac. She tells him that she saw Theresa Allore at 9:00 pm on the night of November 3rd, not in Lennoxville, but in Compton.

Beullac immediately shifts his focus to the Compton residence. He can’t understand why a search hasn’t been conducted. Three weeks have passed, neither the police nor the school have bothered to search anywhere. To make matters worse, twenty inches of snow have fallen in the previous five days. There was a two-week window in which to search undeterred. Now that opportunity has passed. Beullac organizes a search party. Two teams search the grounds and surrounding roadways of Compton. The external search is difficult given the amount of snow on the ground. The teams conduct a thorough physical search of both the King’s Hall and Gillard house residences. Somehow they miss the third floor of King’s Hall. They miss searching the room inhabited by Stewart Peacock. For the length of his investigation Bob Beullac will never meet up with Stewart Peacock.

The search parties come up empty. They are not able to produce any clues as to the whereabouts of Theresa Allore. Their search does offer them a glimpse into the social environment at Compton - one that was rapidly spinning out of control. Compton is one big non-stop party. Beullac discovers, that the place is entirely run by the students. There’s no structure, no supervision. In some ways it is not unlike the living conditions at any number of colleges and universities; but the isolation from the main campus, and the total lack of authority has made the situation much worse. There are tales of all night parties, orgies, and gang rapes. Gillard house is like a Turkish opium den. There is not a single adult living in the building to supervise its’ one-hundred and forty residents. Drug running is rampant. It is alleged that some of the drugs are being purchased for the teachers at Lennoxville. When the product’s inferior, students are selling the drugs to the local high schools students at Lennoxville’s Alexander Galt High. Beullac does pick up on one piece of information valuable to the Allore investigation. On the night of November 3rd, there was an “acid party” in the Gilliard dormitory. Beullac prepares to interview the students who were involved.

Following your November 21st email with respect to obtaining access to city council minutes and municipal budgets of Lennoxville, please read the information below:

Minutes of the city council proceedings of the former municipality of Lennoxville may be examined at the City of Sherbrooke's town hall during regular working hours. We are open from 8:30 am to 12:00 and 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. However, since most of these minutes are archived, we kindly ask you to forewarn us of your visit by calling at least three days in advance so that we can have them delivered to our office and ready for examination. Upon receiving your call, we will also have the budgets of the City of Lennoxville since 1970 delivered to our office at the same time.

To obtain a copy of these documents, a fee of $0.33 per page is applicable.

Sue: This might be of value to you: The budgets would tell you if the town was cutting police services in the 70s. The minutes might be very revealing; detailing frictions between the police and council.John A

Saturday, November 18, 2006

A Word About Sources

For those of you following along with the events from 1978 - and I understand there are a lot of you, from police to politicians, Township locals, friends and the not so friendly - we're going to take a break in the story until about after Thanksgiving. That's because nothing really happened for a week. My parents returned to the Maritimes. I imagine they were stunned by what the encountered in Lennoxville, and took some time to re-assess the situation.

A word about sources. Nothing is embellished here. I haven't put words or ideas in anyone's mouths or heads. Everything is taken from police records, school records - including meeting minutes, newspaper accounts at the time, and my father's notes - which are meticulous. If someone's actions are deemed to have been brainless - or worse, heartless - they've only themselves to blame.

In retrospect we'd have all done things differently.

---------------------------

UPDATE:

A reader asks that I add something. In her words:

For those of you who were involved in the original investigation of Theresa's disappearance, and have feelings of regret on how her case was handled, you have a chance now to step up and be a hero. Perhaps you have information that was never revealed to police/the Allores... or maybe you can put a few issues to rest for the Allore family. Please come forward. It's never too late to right a wrong or make a difference. Do it anonymously if you have to. (There is no doubt in my mind that John can be trusted with whatever information you're willing to share.)And I will add that this is a good idea. From experience, people don't come forward unless directly asked to do so. Sometimes they feel that what they know is in't significant. You never know. I've you have an answer to a piece of this puzzle, let it be known. If you feel you can't trust me, contact Sue Sutherland - her information is to the right of the page.

Know that there have been many confidences I have kept. Many people have given me information under the condition that they not be identified. Under these conditions I have never betrayed those confidences.

Friday, November 17, 2006

“I can’t understand why Theresa’s friends waited a full week before notifying the police of her disappearance… The key to the mystery of my daughter’s disappearance lies on the campus of ChamplainCollege.” Robert AlloreLa Tribune, November 16th, 1978

That Friday morning, a Champlain student, Sharon Buzzee is eating breakfast in the King’s Hall dining area. She has just been informed that Theresa Allore is missing. She is concerned. The week prior she was sitting at a table in the Dewhurst dining hall with Caroline Greenwood. Andre Allore walked by and Caroline asked if he had seen Theresa. Greenwood did not mention that Theresa was missing, she did explain the severity of the situation. Everyone thinks that Josie Stepenhorst was the last person to see Theresa. Stepenhorst saw her from the bus outside Dewhurst around six on that Friday night. But Buzzee saw her much later. Buzzee shares her story with a fellow student, Maureen Sullivan. She tells Sullivan that she saw Theresa after the Dewhurst sighting. She saw her not in Lennoxville, but on the staircase of the King’s Hall residence at 9:00 pm. Sullivan advises Buzzee to immediately share this information with Jeanne Eddisford. Buzzee tells her story to Jeanne Eddisford. Eddisford, in turn, passes the information up the chain to Bill Matson. Bill Matson - like any good soldier - keeps his mouth shut.

The dining hall at King's Hall, Compton

On that same morning Mr. Allore receive a phone call in their hotel room from police chief Leo Hamel. Hamel has something very important he wishes to ask Mrs. Allore. Mrs. Allore takes the phone, and Hamel asks very firmly, does Mrs. Allore remember where Theresa was born? Later that same afternoon, Theresa’s boyfriend, Vlad Kulish, arrives from Calgary. Kulish has been away out West on a rafting trip. Hamel meets with the Allores and Kulish. He questions Kulish. Hamel comments that he has received all kinds of phone calls from the news media claiming Theresa was a lesbian. Hamel states he has a very important question to ask him: Does Kulish know if Theresa was a lesbian?

-----------------------------------------------

By the weekend of November 18th my parents had had enough. The disappearance of Theresa was entering its third week and the situation seemed completely out of control. The Chief of Police was out of his league; didn’t have a clue how to conduct and investigation. The school was more interested in protecting their own interests. Bill Matson seemed completely insane. And everyone was busy playing amateur psychologist. Before departing for Lennoxville, my parents had met with a police officer friend from New Brunswick. They recalled his parting words. Only now did they understood their meaning:

Town of Sherbrooke, 1 mile north of Lennoxville

You’re going into the Eastern Townships. Things are different there. Be careful. You will get no help from anyone.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Thursday, November 16th, 1978

On the afternoon of Thursday, November 17th, Mr. Allore travels to Champlain college to meet Campus Director, Bill Matson. Mr. Allore wants to know what the School is doing to assist in the search for Theresa. Why haven’t the teachers been interviewed? Why haven’t the supervisors been interviewed? Why hasn’t the School conducted a search of the residence where Theresa was living? Who is in charge of the facility? Matson assures Mr. Allore that the School is doing everything possible to assist the police in their investigation into the disappearance of his daughter. Matson then assigns Jeanne Eddisford, the Assistant Director of the King’s Hall residence, as Mr. Allore’s personal contact for all matters regarding the investigation as it concerns Champlain College.

McGreer Hall, Champlain College

Jeanne Eddisford is twenty-five years old. The previous year she came to Champlain to do her internship for her Master’s degree in experimental psychology. In the fall of 1978 she became the Assistant Director Compton. The job was a glorified councilor position, a sort of Dr. Joyce Brothers in residence. If the students needed emotional advice, they could come to her. Working for Champlain was Ms. Eddisford’s first professional job. Two months into that job, Bill Matson deemed her qualified to handle the complex task of a student’s disappearance.

Matson should have assigned Stuart Peacock, Eddisford’s immediate supervisor, and the man in charge of the King’s Hall facility as Mr. Allore’s contact. But Mr. Allore doesn't know anything about Stewart Peacock. During the entire investigation Mr. Allore will be under the impression that Matson and Eddisford are in charge of the students. The Allores will not learn about Stewart Peacock for another twenty-four years.

Like Eddisford, Matson has a background in psychology. As the meeting between Matson and Allore winds down, Matson offers his psychological assessment of what he thinks may have happened to Theresa. He suggests that Theresa might be a lesbian – she has no boyfriends on campus, she only hangs out with girls, the previous year she lived in an apartment with a 30-year-old single mother with two children in Point Claire, Quebec. Matson imagines that Theresa might have wondered off on some lesbian excursion. He offers to drop by Mr. Allore’s motel later to discuss the matter in depth with both Mr. Allore and his wife. In case the Allores don’t feel like talking, Matson suggests an "old Army counter-intelligence trick". He will arrive at the door. If the Allores wish to talk, Mr. Allore is to invite Matson in to sit down. If they do not wish to talk, Mr. Allore is to stand at the door and merely say hello.

Champlain College clearly did not have the time or resources necessary to handle the full impact the crisis at hand. Less than two weeks earlier, ironically on the night of November 3, 1978, Bill Matson submitted his monthly report to the Champlain Board of Governors on the state of affairs at the school. There was confusion. There were too many new staff members. New members were unsure of their duties and responsibilities. The new administration was in such disarray that Matson was preparing a full detailed report on the subject of staff members’ responsibilities, functions and authority. On the subject of the new residence under construction Matson reported that, “it is imperative that all buildings be ready for occupancy by late August, 1979”. Should construction not be completed, and the school be forced to again use the Compton residences, the School would, “be faced with a most critical situation.”

La Paysanne motel, Lennoxville

At five o’clock sharp on the afternoon of November 16th, Matson arrives at La Paysanne motel in Lennoxville. He is invited into the room occupied by Mr. And Mrs. Allore.

Restaurant at the Paysanne, where my parents and I had dinner

Picking up where he left off, Matson continues with his lesbian theory. He states that Theresa - if found - will need to undergo psychiatric treatment - by court order if necessary. He continues that Theresa may be lying dead in a ditch somewhere, but he is more optimistic that Theresa has gone to some place where disturbed people go. When asked to elaborate, Matson reveals that his secretary received an anonymous phone call from someone who knew about" troubled people" and where they might go. The caller said a person matching Theresa’s description had gone to such a place. Before leaving Matson advises the Allores to go back home to New Brunswick, to "get back to normal", and wait for something to happen.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Wednesday, November 15th 1978

It is a thirty-minute drive from Lennoxville to the small village of Austin off the shores of Lake Memphremegog. Chief Hamel is not happy to be making the trip. There is no easy way to get there. You have to go through the town of Magog and navigate any number of gravel back roads. He has agreed to meet some hunters near Austin who claim to have found some articles of clothing in the woods. If there is time, he and his officer, Constable Martin, will venture into the woods with the hunters to try and recover the clothing.

It is the morning of November 15th. The hunters found the clothes on the 5th, ten days earlier. The two parties meet up on Chemin Giguare. This is the spot where the hunters exited the forest after having found the clothing. For some reason, they decide not to enter the forest from this point. Instead, they drive around to another back road running parallel to Giguare. The cars pull over to the side of the road at a spot that approximates the entrance location where the clothes where found on the other side by Giguare. Hamel speaks with the hunters. They say they saw blue pants and a blouse. They can’t remember the color of the blouse, maybe pink. The hunters and officers enter the forest. The ground is mushy and difficult to walk on. The previous evening the area experienced a heavyrainstorm. The hunters try to take them to the spot, but they are not sure where it is. It’s confusing - they are now trying to approach it coming from the opposite direction. The forest is dense.

Leo Hamel (1978)

Hamel is running out of time. It is 11:00 am. He has more leads to run down this morning. The search party decides to call it quits. Hamel thanks the hunters. If they come across the clothes again, please let him know. On the way back, Hamel and Martin discuss the matter. A waist of time, they conclude. In their statements, the students said that Theresa Allore was wearing a white shirt, not pink. Besides, Hamel thinks, she’s a runaway; when she’s found she will have her clothes on.

On Wednesday afternoon, Theresa’s parents decide to check her locker on campus. They are escorted to the locker by Jo-Anne Laurie. Jo-Anne knows Theresa’s combination. When the locker is opened, Laurie is surprised to see textbooks there on the shelf. There is also a birthday card from Theresa’s grandparents. Laurie is sure these items were not there when she and her boyfriend, Ian, opened the locker the previous week. Confused, Mr. Allore asks Jo-Anne who Ian is. Despite being her boyfriend, Laurie replies that she cannot remember his last name. Mr. Allore asks to speak to Ian. Laurie informs Mr. Allore that Ian is unavailable. Curiously, he has decided to spend the week at his parent’s vacation home in Vermont. Ian Catterill will be absent from campus for the entire week during which the police conduct their investigation into Theresa’s disappearance.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

On the morning of Tuesday, November 14th, Theresa’s parents arrive from Saint John, New Brunswick. They meet with College officials. They confer with their eldest son, Andre. They talk with other students who are friends of Theresa. Leo Hamel also talks with the Allores. They inform Hamel that Theresa was a fiercely independent person who always liked doing things herself. They tell him that, despite their protestations against it, Theresa had a bad habit of hitchhiking. They are concerned for her safely, and fear for the worst. Hamel advises them that it is too early to expect “le Pire”, the worst. Theresa is probably not harmed. More likely she has runaway and is hiding some place. She will turn up. Don’t worry. Go home, and don’t worry.

At the end of the interview Hamel asks Mrs. Allore one last question. He wishes to know if Theresa was adopted.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hamel takes statements from four students; Josie Stepenhorst, Theresa’s best friends, Jo-Anne Laurie and Caroline Greenwood, and her brother, Andre Allore. These will be the only formal interviews conducted by the Lennoxville Police:

Theresa was my friend. I saw her at dinner. She was wearing a sweater dress and Chinese slippers. She borrowed blue pants from Joannah Knooops. She was staying in that weekend to study.

We rode the bus together that Friday. We sat together at lunch. On Sunday we did not see her. On Monday I asked her brother if he had seen her. On Tuesday and Wednesday we still did not see her. We did not go to the Police. We did not inform the School. We were too scared. On Thursday we told her brother.

I am her brother. I saw her on November 1st. It was my birthday. She brought me a bottle of Tequila. She sat and had a beer with me at the Lion Pup. She went to the Library to study. I saw her again on Friday. We joked about her blue pants. Theresa had a boyfriend named Vlad. They visited my parents last Summer in New Brunswick. Caroline Greenwood asked me if I had seen Theresa. She did not tell me Theresa was missing. I have a younger brother named John. He is 14 years old.While Leo Hamel was busy handling the Police investigation, Dr. William Matson, Campus Director of Champlain, was assigned to protect the interests of the college. Dr. William Matson was serious, no-nonsense and buttoned-down. At the tail end of the swinging 70s - with his crisp, white shirts, skinny ties and horn-rimmed glasses – Bill Matson was the poster child for a square. He looked more like an I.B.M. executive than the chief administrator for a liberal arts college. In effect, he was. Prior to graduating from the University of Maine with a doctorate degree in Philosophy, Matson worked for ten years as a salesman for a tobacco distribution firm. Matson also did a stint with the U.S. Army, and it was this experience that made him most proud. Matson worked for two years as a “special agent” in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps, and he took every opportunity to notify anyone who would listen about his “secret” life. Matson liked the army. “It taught me a lot about authority and when to keep my mouth shut”, he recalled in an interview.

In the matter of the disappearance of Theresa Allore, Matson was carrying out lockdown procedures. A chain of command was to be followed. Staff and students were expressly forbidden to discuss the matter with anyone from outside the College. All information was to flow through him, which in turn would be disseminated to the police. Matson was new to the position. He was appointed Campus Director the previous summer. Prior to this, he had worked as a professor at Bishop’s – the University on the same campus as Champlain. Despite a wealth of experience in the private sector, Matson had no previous experience in college administration. He had even less experience dealing with people. He was generally regarded as a son-of-a-bitch – an epitaph he surly would have welcomed.

As the newly appointed Campus Director, there seemed to be no end to the problems Bill Matson had inherited. Construction on the new residence - one that would eventually replace Compton - was hopelessly behind schedule. The new residence, located by the railway yard in Lennoxville, was originally supposed to have been completed by the beginning of the 1978 school year. A full year was wasted on securing the bids for construction because Champlain kept losing administration staff. Three of the top executives at the school, the Director General, Jean Marie Bergman; the Director of Student Services, Gerry Cutting; and the Campus Director, Matson, all had less than two months under their belt when classes commenced in late August of 1978. Added to these problems, Matson was recently forced to disclose to the Board of Governors that the School’s Vice-President for Internal Affairs had been terminated for embezzling funds from the Champlain Student Association coffers.

Now there were more problems. A student had gone missing. Not from the campus, but from a residence facility ten miles away in a farmer’s field. How could he be expected to control affairs at such a satellite location when he could barely keep tabs on affairs on campus? The thought of it made his blood boil. Matson was well known for his foul tempers and his sailor mouth. He could be particularly insensitive to his staff and co-workers. In the matter of Theresa Allore, he wasn’t about to call in the National Guard just because she went AWOL. Matson’s was cruel in his bluntness. When a group of students and teachers pleaded with him to conduct a search of the Compton campus to look for the missing student, Matson stiffly replied that he wouldn’t turn his school upside down just for some damn kid.

Monday, November 13, 2006

My Little Runaway

On Monday morning, November 13th 1978, Chief of Police Leo Hamel of the Lennoxville detachment begins his investigation into the disappearance of Theresa Allore. Hamel is new to the force. He became Police Chief in the spring of 1978 after the former Chief, Kasimir Kryszak, was forced to resign. In the previous year there were eight rapes in the town of Lennoxville and Kryszak was criticized for largely ignoring these assaults. The Lennoxville detachment is undermanned and under funded. It is constantly threatened of being swallowed up by the Provincial conglomerate, the Quebec Police Force. The QPF has been on an annexation campaign of late, taking over smaller satellite police squads. Hamel is in his mid 40s. He is the new man on the force and already he looks haggard. He smokes too much. He is frenzied and paranoid – constantly doubting his abilities. He has never handled a missing persons case, let alone a homicide. His only experience with detective work is a half-term course on criminal psychology he was required to take at the local French university, located in the bordering city of Sherbrooke.

Hamel’s initial instinct is that Theresa Allore is a runaway. Hamel makes this assumption and manages somehow to ignore that eight women were raped in the tiny town of Lennoxville in the previous year, and that half of these sexual assaults involved hitchhiking. Hamel theorizes that the young student probably decided to take a trip down to the States. Maybe she went out west to visit her boyfriend. Or maybe she was pregnant and decided to hide out at some local religious commune. Hamel’s assumptions are soon fueled by a series of reports he receives:

- Someone reads the notice in the Monday morning paper about the missing girl. They call in to report that they think they spotted Theresa at a motel in Ste Pierre. She was sharing a room with a young man. The girl looked like Theresa. One problem; she spoke French, not English.

- Another report. The previous Tuesday evening a woman came to the door of a house in Sawyerville. She was crying in the rain and asking for a priest. The woman matched Theresa’s description.

- Someone else claims Theresa isn’t missing at all. They saw her last night at the Entre Deux bar in Compton. Or was that the week before?

A lot of contradictory information is coming into the cramped police office. Hamel decides to hit the streets. He makes the twenty-minute trip to the Vermont / Quebec border and shows Theresa’s picture to the customs agents. Have you seen this girl? Can I leave the picture? If you see this girl, will you contact me?

Returning from the border, Hamel stops at a monastery outside the little French village of St Benoit de Lac. He shows the picture to the nuns. Is this girl hiding here? She may feel shame because of her condition. If you see her will you please phone the police?

Hamel continues his chase. He pursues leads up and down the Townships countryside. He looks everywhere except the one place that is most logical – the college campus in Lennoxville and the residence facility located ten miles away in Compton.

This week my mind has wondered to all kinds of interesting places. I remembered - because Tuesday was Halloween - that 28 years ago we were enjoying that day and night in Saint John, NB. It was my first Halloween in the Maritimes and the last one I would celebrate. We lived in the south end of the City, the asshole of the asshole of Canada, but we had a nice place. The locals called it "little Chicago", most people in that area were dirt poor.

Anyway, I had bought this fury wolfman mask (latex masks with hair on them was something novel back then), the thing cost me about $20. Anyway I was 14 - a little too old for trick or treating, so I answered the door in that mask and gave out candy. I was a real yuckster, I had this dummy made up and as kids went by I'd throw the thing off the roof of our house and yell, "AAAAAHHHHGGGGG!!!"

Real droll.

I also remembered when my parents told me that Theresa was missing. It was Sunday, November 12th. I attended this private school, Rothesay Collegiate and they had cadets. Yup on Saturdays you'd gussy-up in military dress and march up and down the square. If it was a special occasion - like Remembrance day - we'd have a Sunday morning church parade and get home about 11:00 am.

So I'm back in my room hanging up my uniform and my mother and father come back and tell me that Theresa is missing. I don't know what I was supposed to do with this information. I don't even remember what I did. I do remember that that week I was pulled from Rothesay and I accompanied my parents on the drive to Lennoxville to meet with the police and the school.

I was always under the impression that my parents knew Theresa was missing much longer before telling me, but that's not so. My mother learned that Friday morning and two days later I knew. Later my father told me about the phone call he got from my mom. Dad was the project manager at the Pt Lepreau nuclear power plant (that's right, my dad is Homer Simpson). He was at work and my mom called and said that Theresa was missing. Theresa had been in trouble before - little stuff, she'd stay out all night, once she was involved in a raid at a bar for under age drinking. But Dad said this time he knew that things were different. Dad said when he got the call he immediately knew that the worst had happened.

Friday, November 10, 2006

In Compton, last friday.

I was in Sherbrooke again last week-end. Obviously, I went to Compton, friday, saturday and sunday. For all differents reasons.

I felt really strange that day, I mean I was looking at the clock every hours, then went to the Lion Pub, meet some people.I had supper there with Pierre, diane, my friend, the journalist Jen Young, and many ohter persons.

We were there at 6:30, and at 9:30 too.The same place where Theresa maybe went that day, 28 years ago. The worst hours was after 9:30..we were wondering about so much stuff..

Anywais, on friday, during the day, at Compton, we did a video and some pictures. I will try to figure out with John if we can put the video on the blog, I really don,t know how to do that.

Whatever, my point is:

It was november 3...there is not much that changed over there, even if it was 28 years ago.

So! the thing is that it is almost impossible that anybody saw Theresa Allore in that creek for 5 months! impossible.

We tried to understand, I went there so many times, but now there was no leafs in the trees,,it was very very clear.

You see everywhere very clearly..and there is many muskat rat trap, all around, very close to the creek,,as in 1978.

The tractors goes and come, as at that time, very close,,all around the creek.

We tried to figure out,,I don,t know,,the only thing I know, and I am not the only one who think that...It is impossible that anybody saw her on the top of the water for 5 months.

On Friday, November 10th, Andre Allore calls his parents who live in Saint John, New Brunswick. Mrs. Allore advises her son to immediately notify Champlain college that their daughter is missing.

That morning Andre makes an appointment to see Dr. Bill Matson, Campus Director of Champlain College. He informs Dr. Matson that Theresa Allore is missing. It has been a week since she was last seen. Up until this point, no one at Champlain College – not the Director of Residence, Stewart Peacock, nor his assistant, Jeanne Eddisford - are aware that a student has been missing from King’s Hall for over six days.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

On Thursday morning, November 9th, 1978, Jo-Anne Laurie goes with her boyfriend, Ian Catterill, to Theresa’s locker to check for the books that were missing from her room. The locker has a lock attached, but Laurie knows the combination. Laurie and Catterill open the locker. They observe that it contains her notebooks, her hairbrush and some papers; but no textbooks.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A message from our good friend Doreen Drummond

I don't know Aidan's story but this sounds like a good event:

Hello everyone,

On November 27th 2005 Aidan Lumley from Toronto was visitng friends here in Montreal when he was shot on Bleury st. He died from his wounds outside the Vinyl Lounge. Since his death, his mother has been actively involved in raising the awareness about gun control here in Canada.

We at APFAD are supporting Elaine and wish to invite all of you to join us in a rally- march on Saturday, Nov.18th at 2:00 p.m. The march will start from McGill College entrance on Sherbrooke st ( Roddick Gates) and we will walk to Bleury st where the tragic homicide occured.

This march will allow the public to be reminded of this crime and the loss of a wonderful aspiring young man and that we must all take a stand towards the issues of gun control.

Please support Elaine Lumley by marking this date on your calendar and attending the march.For furthur information, do not hesitate to email me.

RE: SchoolbooksI know Sue and others have asked about this many months ago...but I can't remember how (if?) it was answered.

If the schoolbooks weren't in Theresa's room, did they find them in her locker? Did anybody find anything in her locker ? f she had some is not known. If she did they were never recovered (look where her clothes are). Josie Stepenhorst says she saw Theresa leaving the dining hall and walking towards the bus. Did she notice whether or not Theresa had her schoolbooks (or backpack?) with her?

That information is lost.

Would Theresa have taken her books back to her room to do homework during the weekend as she mentioned to Caroline Greenwood? Or would she have done her homework back on the Champlain College Campus. been in her locker or in her room. If they weren't found in either location, where are they?

Don't know.

RE: Pamela MitchellAs Theresa's roommate, how come she didn't sound the alarm bells when Theresa hadn't returned to the room during the weekend? Where was Pamela? Did she make any statements to the police or Robert Beullac?

A good question, but I attribute it to the lack set up of Compton. There were A LOT of strange goings on there. And I don't think Pam had a chance to get to know Theresa to the point where she would have known her habits (Theresa could have still been in Montreal for all she knew). There is a statement from Pam, I don't recall its contents which means it didn't leave an impression with me.

RE: Theresa's afternoon classesWhy couldn't any of her teachers or other classmates recall whether or not Theresa was in class that afternoon? I can't imagine the classes are so large that the teachers don't know who is, and isn't, there?

Simply put, there was no accountability at Champlain: 16 - 18 year old kids and no one gives a shit if they're there or not

RE: Pamela Mitchell

I realize that Pamela was away the weekend Theresa went missing but I guess what I want to know is, how close were Pamela and Theresa? I find it strange that she didn't report the fact she hadn't seen her roommate since her return on Sunday night. Maybe she did report her concerns to school authorities, and they were ignored like so many other things at that place.

They were not close at all. They didn't socialize.. I think they barely spoke to each other. Two very different people

... and still there is no sign of Theresa Allore. Greenwood and Laurie finally decide to telephone Joey Nice in Point Claire. Nice tells them that Theresa has not been to her apartment - not on the weekend or anytime after that. Nice comments that maybe Theresa decided to go out west to Calgary to visit her boyfriend, Vlad Kulish.

Later that day, Joannah Knoops asks Caroline Greenwood if she has seen Theresa. Theresa has borrowed a pair of blue corduroy pants from her, and now she wants them back.

Knoops and Greenwood stop by Theresa’s room to look for the pants. They are let in the room by Theresa’s roommate, Pamela Mitchell. Greenwood notices that the pants aren’t there. Neither are her schoolbooks. Other than these items, nothing else appears missing from the room.

On Wednesday evening - down the road in Austin - the two hunters - Steve Mandigo and Samuel Burnham - finally decide to call the local police to inform them about the clothing they found some days ago in a nearby forest. Police disregard the message. Since no one has reported Theresa missing, the police don’t realize that the clothing could be significant. They consider the call a prank.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

I am in receipt of the letter from your government dated October 3, 2006 in response to my request for a public inquiry into the murder of my sister, Theresa Allore (Enquete sur la mort de madame Theresa Allore survenu en 1978).

To begin with, I ask that your office refrain from referring to this case as ” the death of Theresa Allore”. Theresa was murdered. As I stated in my original letter, "Quebec’s Indemnisation des Victimes d'Actes Criminels (IVAC) ruled it a “death, criminal in nature”, and the RCMP maintains that any unexplained death “must be treated as a homicide unless circumstances direct otherwise.”To refer to this as “la mort de madame Theresa Allore”, to call it anything other than murder is insulting to the efforts we have labored to discover the truth of this tragedy, and disrespectful to the horribly gruesome manner of her passing.

To the first matter and your response to the actions of the Surete du Quebec I must express my disappointment. You claim that the police has done all that is necessary (“chaque element relative a cette enquete que vous communiqué a la Surete du Quebec est analyse et examine”).Sir, this is untrue. I know witnesses who have been brought to the attention of the police and to this day have not been interviewed by the Surete du Quebec (Madame XXXXX, a sexual assault victim; M. Peacock, former residence director of the Champlain residence). My only conclusion is that the police are lying to you when they say they have done everything, or the people from your office did not do a thorough job when they investigated the Surete du Quebec. In either case, these two examples (and there are many others) call into question all the actions of the police in the 28 years that this file has been active.

Two the second matter, your statement that the Surete du Quebec has set up a permanent team to deal with [cold case] files - I am afraid that this raises more questions than it answers:

1. Is this a new squad or an existing squad?2. When was the cold case unit put into place?3. How many investigators are assigned to it?4. Are they assigned permanently to these cases or do they have current cases as well?5. What is their jurisdiction? Are they based in Montreal or throughout Quebec?6. Specifically what will they be doing to solve the case of my sister?

Without these answers your letter is merely claims to improvements. It inspires little confidence in law enforcement and their ability to solve major crimes.

Please respond to this letter with more details so that the public can be assured that its police force is working to improve its actions and techniques.

I call back to the request of my initial letter which was signed by survivors of unsolved homicides and sexual assault victims in Quebec, and has since been co-signed by 150 supporters:

“We believe the Surete du Quebec has done an unacceptable job in attempting to solve these crimes and thus have placed the public safety of all Quebec citizens in jeopardy.”

Again, I ask for your assistance in these matters with the greatest respect for the work you perform and the service you provide to the people of Quebec.

JACKSON, Michigan (AP) -- The party game asked people to name the stupidest thing they had ever done. Police say Jerry Rose answered, "Shot a guy in the head."

Now, Rose is charged with murder and armed robbery in the March 22 slaying of 60-year-old Edgar Hawke.

Hawke's wife and 14-year-old granddaughter found his body at the bottom of the basement stairs in his Parma Township home. A large amount of cash and a .22-caliber rifle were missing, The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported Saturday.

Police were making little headway in their investigation until officers in neighboring Calhoun County questioned Rose's girlfriend about a series of break-ins. She told them about Rose's confession during a summer party, and they gave the information to Jackson County sheriff's detectives.Rose, 29, was arrested Wednesday at his mother's home. He was arraigned Friday and was being held without bond pending a preliminary hearing November 15.

Monday, November 06, 2006

A loan you requested has been sent to the DHHILL* Library circulation desk for pickup.Loan Title: Rapport de la Commission d'enquete chargee de faire enquete surla Surete´ du Quebec : pour une police au service de l'integrite´ et de lajustice.

This wrinkle in time can't give it no creditMonday morning, November 6th, 1978. Two and a half days have passed. There has been no sign of Theresa since late Friday evening. Despite her absence, neither Stewart Peacock nor Jeanne Eddisford, the directors of the residence, notice she is missing. The School has a policy for conducting nightly bed checks. This is a policy in theory; in practice, Compton is a “loose” facility. Regulations are frowned upon. The supervisors don’t bother to enforce bed checks.

By mid afternoon, Theresa’s friend, Caroline Greenwood is beginning to have doubts. She asks Theresa’s brother, Andre, if he has seen her lately. Andre replies that he has not. Greenwood does not bother to inform Andre of the depth of her concern. She does not tell him that no one has seen Theresa for nearly three days.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

...hungry and cold and hunted

It is six o’clock on the morning of Sunday, November 5th, and hunters, Steve Mandigo and Samuel Burnham have been up for hours. The season is already two weeks old and they have yet to make their first kill. This morning they have chosen a spot at the crest of a rise overlooking a spectacular view of Lake Memphremagog. It is beautiful country. The lakeshore is peppered with dozens of cottages belonging to the affluent members of the Montreal English elite. They come to unwind each summer, to this area near the tiny village of Austin.

Late autumn. The lakeshore is now closed for the season. It is cold, but the first snow has yet to fall. Mandigo and Burnham pass silently through the thick, dense forest. They are hoping for deer. Near a fallen tree they spy something. They approach the tree. Resting neatly on a log they find clothing. Upon closer examination, they see that it’s a woman’s shirt and a pair of blue pants. The clothes look new. The men place the clothing back on the log and continue with their hunting. Around noon, the two men exit the interior of the forest. They come out onto the gravel service road where their trucks are parked. They briefly discuss the articles of clothing they found in the woods. They consider whether it would be best to notify the Police.

--------------------------------------------------On Sunday evening, November 5th, Caroline Greenwood and Jo-Anne Laurie take a train back to the Eastern Townships. They have been away for the weekend visiting parents outside of Montreal. The two students arrive at the Compton residence around ten in the evening. They drop by the room of their friend, Theresa Allore, and knock on her door. There is no answer. Greenwood thinks that maybe Theresa decided to travel to Montreal for the weekend after she completed her homework. Before starting the fall semester, Theresa had lived in an apartment with friends in Point Claire, a suburb of Montreal. Perhaps she returned there - as she had done the previous weekend - and spent time with her Montreal friends.

The CAVA conference I attended two weeks ago was basically a by-the-numbers affair, but one of the surprise pleasures was getting to meet Detective Paul Krawczyk and other members of the Toronto Child Exploitation Section.

In a gesture suggested by former Toronto police officer John Muise (thanks Johnny) CAVA honored the unit at a dinner in which they were presented with a victims service award.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

There is some confusion regarding the letter I received from the Ministere de Securite Publique. Let me try and clarify things.

Below is a copy of the letter (you will probably need to copy and save it in order to view it properly):

The first half is pretty standard fair, they talk about how they've looked into the SQ, from their point of view investigators did their job and - given the limits of technology from the 70s - did all they could. The case is still open, it's never closed... bla-bla-bla, we've all heard this before. It's pretty disappointing and they never bother to address our real questions: what are officers doing now? Why haven't they followed up on leads and suspects?

This is pretty much the response I expected from the initial inquiry into the actions of the Surete du Quebec.

What is interesting is the second to last paragraph which addresses a cold-case unit, but therein lies the confusion. As a reporter pointed out to me (sorry my French is not that sharp) it states, "major crimes unit "has put in place..." rather then "is putting in place..." which begs the question: when did they do that?

Indeed, when I was speaking to M. Turcotte he could not give me a definite answer as to when this happened.

Furthering the confusion, I was contacted by email by an SQ officer last night who wrote, "that's great, but it remains to be seen..."

Then someone questioned whether the government mandated this or whether the SQ did it on their own initiative.

To all of this I say... WHATEVER.

We have it on paper that the major crimes unit 0f the Surete du Quebec has a cold-case squad. It matters little whether they use it to solve Theresa's case, nor am I concerned how they got to this place. If they use it to focus on unresolved crimes that is an achievement for everybody.

Now, do we want to know what they mean by a "special team to solve these types of crimes"? Absolutely. If it is the same old situation of investigators working part-time on old cases, then the government and the public have a different perspective of the nature of cold-case investigation. If this is in fact the reality of the situation then the Ministry will have gone out on a limb and embarrassed themselves by not being aware of the actions and strategies of their law enforcement.

So this is now in the hands of the media who should contact the Quebec government and the Surete du Quebec and ask them exactly what is the nature of their "special team to solve these types of crimes". Citizens have a right to know the nature of changes and improvements especially when the government claims bragging-rights for alleged achievements.

On the morning of Friday, November 3rd, 1978, Theresa Allore rose to prepare for the last day of the school week. The was about to complete just her eighth week at Champlain Regional College. Outside the temperature was 55 degrees. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

Theresa dresses accordingly. She is wearing a white t-shirt, blue corduroy pants she has borrowed from a friend, a beige knee-length sweater, and on her feet, Chinese slippers without socks. A long, dark green scarf is fashionably wrapped around her neck. She exists her room in the Gillard dormitory and crosses the parking lot to the main residence building, King’s Hall.

King’s Hall is a residence used to house some of the students of Champlain Regional College. It is located in the country village of Compton, situated 10 miles from the School’s main academic campus in the town of Lennoxville, Quebec. King’s Hall is an odd choice for a college residence. The village of Compton pretty much owes its existence to the former girls boarding school. Founders felt that the isolated setting would “supply a good and thorough education with sound religious training.” King’s Hall is a Tudor monstrosity; modeled after the tradition of English boarding schools – it even has a cricket pitch. In 1972, the girls’ school amalgamated with another boarding school in Lennoxville, and the King’s Hall facility stood vacant for three years. In the fall of 1975 Champlain College - faced with a housing shortage and waiting for a new residence to be constructed in Lennoxville – entered into an agreement to lease King’s Hall from its local Compton owners, the St. Laurent family.

The front lobby of Gillard house

At the beginning of the 1978 school year, King’s Hall housed two hundred and forty Champlain students. Approximately one hundred students lived in the main building, the “King’s Hall” building, while the remaining one hundred and forty students were housed in an adjacent, prefab annex building, Gillard house. Two adult supervisors lived with the students in the King’s Hall residence; Stewart Peacock, the Director of Residence, and Jeanne Eddisford, the Assistant Director of Residence. No adults lived with the one hundred and forty students located in Gillard house.

At half past seven Theresa Allore enters the dinning hall located in the King’s Hall building. She eats breakfast with her friends Jo-Anne Laurie and Carolina Greenwood. The girls engage in small talk about music and classes; Greenwood is preoccupied studying for a morning calculus test. They are rushed. They do not want to miss the 8:00 am shuttle bus that will take them to the college campus in Lennoxville.

The shuttle bus ride is monotonous burden that must be indulged by all King’s Hall students – at least, those who do not have access to their own automobile. The buses run every hour, on the hour between the hours of eight and six (there is no noon service). Occasionally, if there is a special event on campus, a late bus will run to bring students back to the residence. The twenty-minute ride takes students across the isolated Townships countryside. On this day the sky is blue, but the trees are naked and the landscape is barren. It is mid-autumn and the cornfields are stripped of their harvest. Looking out the window, Theresa sees clapboard houses and covered bridges as the yellow school bus makes its way to the main campus in Lennoxville.

Champlain College is a community within a community. Champlain is a squatter within the parameters of Lennoxville’s main attraction, Bishop’s University. In 1978 Bishop’s is a 125-year-old institution. Along with McGill in Montreal, it is one of only two English-speaking universities in the province of Quebec. The Bishop’s campus is expansive and modern. There is a library, a sports complex and a brand new computer center featuring a state-of-the-art Xerox processing unit with 80K bytes of memory. The smaller, liberal arts college of Champlain pays Bishop’s for the use of these facilities. They are two academic centers co-habiting the same space. Lennoxville is a college town not unlike many across North America. It has the feel of Kingston, Ontario, or Lubbock, Texas. Both Lennoxville and Compton are part of a large region in Quebec known as the Eastern Townships - a vacation and recreational area located within an hour’s drive of the metropolitan city of Montreal.

The King’s Hall shuttle bus pulls into Lennoxville. It travels along the main drag of route 143 past the Paysane motel - past Perrette’s, and Disco Jeans, and Jerry’s Pizza. At the corner of Belvedere the bus slows and turns in front of Le Lion d’Or - local watering hole for students. It crosses the train tracks at the rail yard and enters the college campus. The bus deposits the students in front of the Dewhurst dining hall at approximately twenty after eight. Theresa hurries with her friends, Jo-Anne and Caroline. She has less than ten minutes to make it to her first class. Along the way she deposits some belongings in her locker located in the Nichols building across campus. The remainder of the morning is spent in two classes, Physics and Chemistry. In Chemistry Theresa is joined again by her friend, Jo-Anne. Jo-Anne asks if Theresa has any plans for the weekend. Theresa remarks that she intends to stay in residence; she has a psychology paper due on Monday. After Chemistry, Theresa and Jo-Anne Laurie part their ways. According to Laurie, this is the last time that she saw Theresa.

The Lion at the corner of 143 and Belvedere

Lunchtime is spent in the Dewhurst dining hall. The students partake in what is affectionately known as “Dewey Grub”. At lunch, Theresa briefly speaks with her brother Andre. He comments on the blue corduroys she’s wearing. How they look silly on her. She says she borrowed them from a fellow student, Johannah Knoops. She likes them. She’s thinking of buying a pair. Theresa eats lunch with her friend, Caroline Greenwood. Earlier in the week Greenwood had invited Theresa to spend the weekend at her parent’s place in Hemmingford, a small community south of Montreal. Theresa now informs Greenwood that she has too much homework, and will not be able to get away for the weekend. Theresa then helps Greenwood locate a friend who will hitchhike with her to Hemmingford. According to Greenwood, she never saw Theresa again after lunch.

Theresa is not seen that afternoon. Presumably she spent the remainder of the day attending classes, although no one witnesses this. That evening, two students, Suzanne DeRome and Josie Stepenhorst are having dinner in Dewhurst. DeRome and Stepenhorst are roommates in Gillard House, Compton. They share a room three doors down from Theresa. At approximately 6:00 pm, Theresa comes over to their table. She asks if they are going home for the weekend. DeRome and Stepenhorst reply that they are not. The girls decide to get together that evening to listen to records. Theresa agrees to stop by their room around 9:00 pm. Before leaving, Theresa asks Stepenhorst for a cigarette. Stepenhorst replies that her cigarettes are located in her coat pocket in the lobby, and to help herself. Theresa leaves. She gives no indication where she may be going, or what she may be doing between 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

At 6:15 pm Josie Stepenhorst is on board the bus that will take her back to her residence in Compton. By now it has grown dark. The bus doors close, and the vehicle pulls out from the curb. Stepenhorst glances out the window and sees Theresa leaving Dewhurst dining hall. She is walking toward the bus. She has apparently missed the last regularly scheduled bus that evening. It will be a five-hour wait until a special bus is sent out to retrieve students from the campus pub. Apart from this late night bus, there is no way for students to get back to their residence. Some students wait; the more adventurous may decide to hitchhike.

Six in the evening outside the Dewhurst dining hall is the last time Theresa Allore is reported having been seen on campus. After 6:00 pm, it is difficult to determine what happened next. She may have returned to her locker, retrieved some books and proceeded to the library to work on her homework. This was often her habit. She may have left Dewhurst dining hall and made the half-mile walk up the street to the Lion Pub. Possibly she had some drinks, waiting for the midnight bus. Or maybe she met someone in the pub. Or perhaps she got tired of waiting, exited the Lion, and stood on the corner of highway 143 and Belvedere with her thumb extended into traffic.

Back in Compton, it is a quiet night at King’s Hall. Many students have gone home to their parents for the weekend. Theresa’s roommate, Pamela Mitchell, has done this; room 235 is empty. Most of the “jocks”, normally a rowdy bunch on a Friday evening, have all gone to bed the football team has a big game in the morning. At around 8:00 pm, a seventeen-year-old Residence Assistance (RA), Wendy Ford enters the TV room in King’s Hall. She is on duty this night. She observes ten or twelve people watching television, including the Assistant Director of Residence, Jeanne Eddisford.

Over in Gillard house things are quiet too. Student, Greg Deacon, who is in the same chemistry class as Theresa, drops by her room to see if she has completed her homework. He knocks, but there is no answer. He returns to his residence.

By 9:00 pm Suzanne DeRome and Josie Stepenhorst are back in their room listening to records. The door to their room is open. Theresa misses the get-together with her friends. She never shows up to listen to records.

Theresa and Suzanne DeRome in a Gillard house dorm room

Shortly after 9:00 pm, student, Sharon Buzzee is walking through the entranceway of King’s Hall. Buzzee glances over at the main staircase and is surprised to see Theresa standing there as if she’d come in from outside. Buzzee stops to talk with her. She asks why Theresa did not leave to spend the weekend with Caroline Greenwood as she had planned. Theresa replies that she decided not to go; she has too much homework to do. Buzzee asks Theresa what her plans are for that night. She replies that she intends to do her homework. As Buzzee leaves, Theresa appears to be heading up the stairs of King’s Hall toward the second or third floor.

Sharon Buzzee is the only one to report having seen Theresa on the King’s Hall staircase. Around nine-thirty, another student, Tamara Westall says she saw Theresa in the King’s Hall dining room. She is there, according to Westall, grabbing a late night snack prepared for students. No one witnesses this encounter either. This is the last time anyone claims to have seen Theresa Allore alive.

The King's Hall staircase

Theresa’s brother, Andre Allore, lives in a room on the second floor of King’s Hall. It is a room just off the main staircase. Between 9:30 and 10:00 pm he is in his room with his girlfriend. The lights are off. Around this time he hears footsteps coming down the hall. He knows that they are women’s footsteps because the floor creaks differently depending if a man or a women is walking on it. After a moment there is a slight knock on his door. Andre never bothers to answer the door. Whoever knocked eventually walks away.

On the third floor of King’s Hall, up the same main staircase from where Sharron Buzzee says she saw Theresa Alllore, the same staircase she would have had to ascend if she did indeed knock on her brother’s door around nine-thirty, is the apartment of Stewart Peacock, chief supervisor, and Director of Residence for the Compton facility. No one can remember seeing Stewart Peacock on the evening of Friday, November 3rd, 1978. In fact, no one can recall much of anything about Stewart Peacock. He is new to the College, and pretty much an enigma to the staff and students. In the coming months, the little that is known about this college administrator will be wiped from the collective memory of the community.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back.

A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs."You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

My brother is a guitarist and when we were teenagers he played in a lot of bands. He used to have this little white Adidas bag, inside he carried around all his peddles and lead cords. Over the years equipment changed but the Adidas bag stayed with him.

Second thing. On the bookshelf in his room he always kept this empty tequila bottle. That thing stuck around for twenty years. I never understood what it was there for.

A couple of years ago he told me this story. November 1st, 1978 and Andre was celebrating his birthday at the Lion pub in Lennoxville. Around six in the evening Theresa walks in with this Adidas bag and gives it to him. Inside are a salt shaker, some limes and a bottle of tequila. That night for his birthday present she taught him how to do shots. Two days later she would be dead.